


Kisses

by Sunless_Garden



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: First Kiss, Kissing, M/M, Oblivious Jim, Sneaky Spock
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 16:52:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1435771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sunless_Garden/pseuds/Sunless_Garden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vulcans kiss with their hands. Spock has been stealing kisses, and Kirk has no idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kisses

Jim is standing in front of his chair, and he gestures for Uhura to put Admiral Pike on. The last mission didn't go so well, and he is nervous about reporting. Starfleet took a big chance promoting him to captain, but he is most afraid of disappointing Pike. Spock knows this. They have become friends in the months since Jim's official promotion, and they have bonded over crazy death defying away missions and the illogicality of women and how annoying Bones can be when he is jabbing hypos in your neck (Spock is Bones's second favorite victim).

So Jim thinks nothing of it when Spock stands beside him and brushes his fingers comfortingly with his own warmer ones. It is a gesture of support and camaraderie, and he has no idea why Uhura is bristling like a cornered cat. But Admiral Pike comes on the screen, and pretty soon the last thing Jim is thinking about is Uhura's reaction to Spock's support. He is too thankful that Spock is there besides him, keeping him grounded and stable and - dare he think it - logical.

*****

Pretty soon that fleeting brush of fingers becomes common. Jim takes it as Spock's way of expressing his friendship and trust and support without mushy words or outward displays of emotion. Jim appreciates it every time they stand in the transporter room waiting to be beamed down to a hostile planet, and when he's in sickbay after returning from said hostile planet, and on the bridge when he's close to losing his temper at Starfleet brass, and in the training room after Spock takes him down for the sixteenth time.

Uhura and Spock terminated their relationship right before that spectacularly bad mission that led to his public debriefing with Admiral Pike, and Spock had nothing but free personal time. Jim, who is desperately trying to avoid sleeping with his inferiors (even though he has probably already hooked up with about seventy five percent of the ensigns on the Enterprise), turns to Spock for companionship. 

They bond further over three-dimensional chess, and when Bones joins them Jim teaches Spock to play poker. Spock has the ultimate poker face, and though he does not quite understand the logic of bluffing, he is learning astonishingly quickly.

Jim wonders sometimes why Bones stiffens and sputters and reddens every time Spock's fingers brush his. He knows that Vulcans usually do not like skin-to-skin contact, as they are touch telepaths, but Jim is a very tactile person. He figures that Spock sees these fleeting touches as a compromise - Jim avoids clapping him on the shoulder or slapping his back or ruffling his hair, and instead brushes his fingers subtly.

Jim is very proud of his restraint. He has learned to adapt to Vulcan gestures of friendship - subtle and logical and emotionality unacknowledged. And besides, he has Bones and Sulu and Chekov and Cupcake for the back-slapping, drunken "I-love-you-man" kind of friendship. Spock is too elegant for that.

*****

They are on shore leave, and Jim somehow convinces his regular bridge crew (minus Uhura - she said it should be a boys night out) plus Scotty and Bones to join him at a bar. He hasn't had sex in way, way too long. Jim is flirting with this pretty Orion girl - he hasn't had an Orion since Gaila, and man was that girl something else - when Spock comes up besides him and brushes their fingers together subtlely.

Jim turns to smile at him brightly, and he introduces Spock to the Orion girl. She quickly excuses herself, her eyes darting down to Jim's hands as she makes her exit. Jim glances down himself, wondering what could possibly be so interesting - or repulsive. They're fine hands, really. Strong and dexterous and well-kept, and he wonders why women always look at them before they excuse themselves. Maybe Spock would know? He's usually nearby when the women do so.

So Jim and Spock go back to the booth where the others are, and they slide in besides Bones, Jim in the middle. "Guys, is there something wrong with my hands?" Jim asks them, looking down at his appendages once more.

Chekov looks at him with wide blue eyes, Sulu gives him a disbelieving smirk, and Scotty ignores him to order another drink. A quick glance at Bones shows him scowling into his Romulan ale. Jim pouts at the lack of response and turns to Spock. The Vulcan takes one of Jim's hands into his own two, examining it in detail. He strokes each finger in turn, rubbing lightly and then turning Jim's hand to examine his palm.

Chekov blushes deeply, Sulu sputters, Scotty gulps his whiskey, and Bones hides his scowl in his drink.

"There is nothing wrong with this hand, Captain - perhaps I should examine the other, in order to be thorough?" Spock questions casually.

"Sure, Spock," Jim replies absently, giving Spock his other hand while surveying his crew with a small frown. They're acting weird tonight.

*****

In later years, Jim will be embarrassed at just how oblivious he was. He will blame it on his youth and the fact that he was too busy being fucked by his Alien Cultures professor to pay attention to the material. Spock will get angry and distracted at the mention of Jim's youthful promiscuity, and the topic will be dropped. But Jim was pretty fucking oblivious at twenty five. It took an incident with a grabby Vulcan ambassadorial aide, Spock Prime, and Pon Farr in order to show him what he should have realized from the very beginning.

Said incident occurred on New Vulcan. The Enterprise had been asked to represent Starfleet for a diplomatic dinner acknowledging the colony's successful establishment. Jim had worn his dressy captain's uniform, and Spock and the rest of the officers had followed suit. He attempted to restrain overt signs of emotionality. It was difficult when a six foot three drunk Vulcan ambassadorial aide was invading your personal space.

Well - it wouldn't have been invading Jim's personal space had the aide been human, but Jim didn't appreciate any Vulcan but his first officer quite that close. He knew what kind of trust it would imply for the aide to touch him, and he didn't want any random drunk floozy gaining insight into his mind and emotions via touch telepathy. So Jim was getting pretty uncomfortable, especially when the Vulcan reached forward to grab his hand. He looked down at their joined appendages with something akin to disbelief, wondering just how many thoughts the drunk, grabby Vulcan had already read. 

Jim tried to pull his hand away - but of course even pissed Vulcans are stronger than a pissed off human. So Jim resorted to his secret weapon. He flashed his pleading baby blue eyes at his Spock. 

He was a bit taken aback at the anger in his first officer's eyes - not many would have been able to tell, but Jim knew personally that that particular expression meant someone was about to get throttled. So he turned his baby blues to Spock Prime - hoping he would be a bit more calm and rational and pull the damn grabby Vulcan away - but as he searched the room for the elder Vulcan he realized just how many eyes were on him.

Or more specifically - on his captured hand.

"Um, mind letting me go?" he asked the aide calmly, once again trying to pull his hand away. Couldn't the Vulcan read his mind and realize that he wasn't interested in holding hands with him? How blunt did he have to be?

Somehow, Spock Prime materializes at his side, gently extricating his hand from the drunk aide. "I am sorry for the violation, old friend," the elder Vulcan apologizes. 

"Violation?" Jim asks with a small frown. "That's a bit strong of a word. I mean, I know he invaded my personal space a bit, but hand-holding is pretty junior high."

The elder Vulcan blinks at him in shock. Jim recognizes that expression from his own Vulcan.

"Jim . . ." Spock Prime trails off. "Hands are an erogenous zone on Vulcans. Holding hands in the Vulcan culture is similar to passionately kissing on Terra."

"Oh," Jim replied with a small voice. "So he was just getting off on touching me without me even knowing?"

The elder Vulcan's lip twitch just a bit at his utter obliviousness.

"Wait!" Jim exclaimed in shock. "You mean . . . holding hands is like - foreplay? What about brushing fingers? Or stroking fingers? I mean - we have platonic kisses on Earth. Things you would bestow your parents or siblings or close friends. Touching hands can be like that, too, right?"

"Any hand-to-hand contact is seen as a declaration of romantic intent," Spock Prime disputed. "There is no such thing as platonic contact through the hands - just as there is no possible way to make the act of fellatio platonic."

Jim sputters, and that is when his Spock comes up behind him to interlock their fingers. Jim looks down at the entwined hands with shocked eyes.

"Oh," he says again in a small voice. At least now he knows what all those looks and reactions were about. Why is he always the last to know?

And he was the last to know about Pon Farr as well. He just thought Spock was really, really horny after all that foreplay.


End file.
